Brussels, 26/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 26 July, the European Commission decided to make a further €20 million available in emergency aid in favour of the vulnerable people of Yemen. This new aid allocation brings to €40 million the Commission's 2012 humanitarian assistance to that country. This decision was prompted by the imminent risk of a food crisis given that food supply security has considerably worsened over the past two years. To this is added the fear that the Syrian crisis, now in the limelight, will detract attention from the Yemeni population that is already suffering from the conflict in the north of the country between government forces and Al Qaeda.
“Considering how fast this crisis is growing, and the number of people it is affecting, Yemen is becoming one of the direst humanitarian crises in the world today with record malnutrition rates. But it is also among the crises that risk slipping off the radar of international donors”, said Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, in a press release. Funding, from the budget of ECHO (European Commission humanitarian aid service) is intended to cover the needs of the most vulnerable people, most of whom are women, children and refugees, Georgieva said.
In Yemen, over 43% of the population live below the poverty level and the rate of malnutrition is the third highest in the world. Ten million people (40% of the population) live mainly on bread and tea. In some governorates along the western coast, the level of global acute malnutrition is 32%, more than double the internationally recognised emergency level of 15%.
Poverty combined with the persisting conflict in the north, as well as drought, surging food prices and the constant flow of refugees from the Horn of Africa (250,000 have fled Somalia and Ethiopia and live mainly in camps where living conditions are precarious) give rise to a humanitarian situation that considerably worsened in 2011.
An ECHO expert said on Thursday: “In Yemen, our priorities are to assist the displaced populations and refugees and to combat food insecurity”. (AN/transl.jl)